OT: favorite 'punk' 'reggae' 'jazz' 'classical' 'indie' or what have you band and why

I tried really hard to jump into the metal thread and I just read one too many "Iron Maiden" and "Pantera" replies....it's not that I don't like metal, either, but I love music almost as much as mountain biking, and my musical tastes are far broader and, as I age, much less about pumped up balls to the wall aggression and much more about musical freedom and creativity, though I'll admit I prefer it with a bit of an edge most of the time. That being said, my playlists of late

Polvo
Other Men/Pinback/Rob Crow
Hayden
Palace Brothers
The Minutemen - (a desert Island band)
early meat puppets
Mice parade
the Ruins (japanese prog geniuses)
shellac
unwound
tortoise
the sea and cake
the anomoanon
mason jennings - (best singer-songwriter since Dylan)
the police
Led Zeppelin
John Fahey
Modest Mouse
The Mercury Program
Hella
Trans Am
Built to spill
Mississippi John Hurt
John Coltrane
Steve Reich
the Talking Heads
90 day men
Beck-('one foot in the grave' is a desert island album)

and so on....just a small taste there, really.

post up what you love here that ISN'T considered metal.....or is that all MTB fanatics listen to?

If it went on and on, you'd all be pissed and stop reading. Currently my iPod is holding 5687 songs at 29.8 Gb with many more to come.

I do not endorse pirated music, but I have bought so many CDs that have been ripped off from me and had to repurchase them over and over, so wtf? Here's a sweet forum I found that holds too much info for me to not pass it along.

Today I listened to Jesse Cook on the way to work, 'Tull on the way home( Stand Up). C-Ball Adderly on the way to the ride, and Ben Folds going home again. Been listening to a lot of Naked Raygun and Blackball the last two weeks too.

If it went on and on, you'd all be pissed and stop reading. Currently my iPod is holding 5687 songs at 29.8 Gb with many more to come.

I do not endorse pirated music, but I have bought so many CDs that have been ripped off from me and had to repurchase them over and over, so wtf? Here's a sweet forum I found that holds too much info for me to not pass it along.

...Ha. I got 8238 songs over 53.74 Gb of my Zune80.....clearly I love music far more than you......
....but seriously, I think we have some similar tastes (except for Hall and Oates)....my two biggest obsessions over the last 4 years or so have been Don Caballero (I guess I've been obsessing over Don cab for closer to 8 years - different albums, different years) and, more recently, Rob Crow. He's half of Pinback, but also releases solo albums, was the creative force behind heavy vegetable and thingy, both extremely awesome bands, is currently involved in The Ladies, Other Men (same members of Heavy Vegetable)...played in optagonally yours and also a goofy metal band called Goblin Cock, as a sort of joke....The guy can turn a pile of dog droppings into a gorgeous and fascinating melody, I swear. He is to my late 20's what the pixies were to my late teens....musical revelation wrapped up in enjoyable listening.
I tried to check out your link but it did not work....thanks anyway.

a few bands that just really caught my ear.

The Aggrolites - good reggae stuff.

HOT SNAKES - I can't get enough of this sound. So far I've tried to find everything that these guys ahve been associated with. Drive like Jehu, Rocket from the Crypt, and current project The Night Marchers.

Slowride - heard a song on FuelTV and it hooked me. Put "C/S" album in CD and hit play. repeat.

I listen to both kinds of music: Country and Western. Lotsa good stuff listed here. Heres one more: I love the podcasts from Garagepunk.com. Tons of music you won't hear anywhere else and most of the podcasters are pretty funny too.

That's a pretty big claim. I would agree with you if we were just talking about his first album, gritty and melodic. Then he found god, and the quality went down.

Is that what happened? The last album I heard was the one with Ulysses and Lemon Grove Avenue....haven't heard anything more recent.....then again, you know that Dylan himself got "born again" in the middle of his career, too, don't you? maybe Jennings will come back to the secular world and become an overrated icon who spent his genius early on, too.
I agree, though, Jennings first album is definitely the best, kind of in the same league as "the Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" I guess, though much less well known.

Is that what happened? The last album I heard was the one with Ulysses and Lemon Grove Avenue....haven't heard anything more recent.....then again, you know that Dylan himself got "born again" in the middle of his career, too, don't you? maybe Jennings will come back to the secular world and become an overrated icon who spent his genius early on, too.
I agree, though, Jennings first album is definitely the best, kind of in the same league as "the Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" I guess, though much less well known.

I guess I'm not 100% certain, but his following albums after the first all were very "inspired." Maybe I was a little let down that he didn't write another "godless" as that song f'ing rocks.

And some artists get better going that route, so I hope that people don't take my comment as knocking on religion. I still say some of Johnny Cash's best stuff is his religious work. That said though, you won't find any christian "rock" albums in my collection.